Adventists, Atheists, and Life’s Spiritual Journey

I’m a Seventh Day Adventist. So this past week when Ryan Bell, former pastor of the Hollywood Adventist Church, made headlines with his 2014 resolution to live like an Atheist it immediately caught my attention. Throughout the week more people picked up on the story and gave their slant. As expected, most Christians condemned it while Atheists applauded him and chalked it up as a win for unbelief. But lost in the middle of the banter were all the people left shocked, hurt and confused. How could a person whose whole life had been devoted to God suddenly “have questions the church wasn’t able or willing to answer”?

Several years ago I went through a similar, although less public, struggle with my faith (see I Tried to be an Atheist and Failed). I had questions about the existence of God, the history of religion, and the validity of its…